Mukashi Mukashi by Birutė Mažeikaitė

Photographer: Fredrik Altinell

Mukashi Mukashi is a label by Lithuanian Birutė Mažeikaitė. Focusing on sustainable clothing, in 2017 she won the 'Fashion Makes Sense Award', earning her sponsorship for her new collection 'Animus',  a collection that explores the battle between wanting to be original and wanting to fit in.

Mukashi Mukashi will present her collection 'Animus' at the Show program on Saturday 16th of June at the SAM-Decorfabriek. Get your tickets here.

What made you realize that you wanted to work in (fashion) design?
I was born after Soviet Union crumbled, but my family spent most of their lives in it. Since there was deficit for almost everything, in order to be stylish, my parents did a lot of clothes themselves. During my early childhood the economy in Lithuania was still developing and I ended up doing a lot of things for myself too. I would get inspired and spend all night doing something that I wanted to wear to school the next day. I kept doing the same during my university years while studying psychology. And at some point I understood that the way I get excited about it is special and I want to do this for a living.

Why did you choose fashion?
I see myself as a creative person, designing makes me happy. I didn’t have a formal drawing education to get into art universities, but I was also scared to try. I even finished bachelor of Psychology, but it didn’t feel right. I kept drawing during my lectures. At some point I realized that I will regret if I don’t pursue design. Trial and error. But once I tried it, I knew I made the right decision.

What would you say are your main achievements in your career?
Winning FASHIONCLACH Fashion Makes Sense Award and becoming finalist of International Talent Support Contest are two most memorable achievements. Landing a certain kind of job is always good and exciting, but to me, memories related to my artwork are much more dear and precious. As a young artist struggling to make it, this kind of outside appreciation is very nurturing. I know that my brand is very young, but it is a precious product of my imagination and I am very proud of it as well. I am excited to see where it will go.

What are your sources of inspiration?
I think my collections are quite different from one another and I take inspiration from many diverse things that are important for my own world at a current time. I wouldn’t even know what will inspire me next, I feel that it is important to keep my options broad and see where that takes me.

Why did you decide to participate in FASHIONCLASH 2018? What are your expectations?
I always wanted to participate in FASHIONCLASH, because I feel like this festival explores a broader spectrum of creativity in fashion. It is always very gratifying to show my works after working so hard to materialize them from thoughts. I am looking forward for people to see it as well.

Fashion Makes Sense Award 2017

MUKASHI MUKASHI

FASHIONCLASH presents, in collaboration with Province Limburg, the ‘Fashion Makes Sense Award’, a stimulation award for conscious young designers. The Fashion Makes Sense award is awarded during the Dutch Earth Week (October 2017) in Maastricht. Out of the finalists, a jury chose one winner that’ll be rewarded with a money prize of €2.500. This prize will be used to produce a sustainable collection, which will be presented during FASHIONCLASH Festival 2018. In addition, an audience winner was chosen, this winner will receive a cash prize of €500.

MUKASHI MUKASHI by Birutė Mažeikaitė won the Fashion Makes Sense Award jury prize. The audience award went to Maastricht based knitwear label STRIKKS.

The jury, consisting of Carry Somers (founder Fashion Revolution), Desiree Kleinen (Ree projects) Jasmien Wynants (Flanders DC/Close the loop) and fashion designer Elsien Gringhuis, was unanimous about the sustainable fashion brand MUKASHI MUKASHI.

The awards have been presented on October 12 by Daan Prevoo, deputy of the Province of Limburg. Fashion Makes Sense Award is presented during Dutch Earth Week that took place from 10 -14 October 2017 for the first time.

In addition, Forza Fashion House organized a Sustainable Fashion Falk during the award ceremony. The talk, moderated by Elise Crutzen (fashion editor and writer) featured presentations by Jasmien Wynants and Carry Somers.

Fashion Makes Sense Award is a project by FASHIONCLASH, made possible thanks to support of Province of Limburg. The 9th edition of FASHIONCLASH Festival was dedicated to the theme ‘Fashion Makes Sense’, in which the focus was on the senses and the sense making in relation to fashion. The theme shed light on sustainability in fashion, by giving a stage to initiatives and designers and creating a dialogue between the audience and the fashion industry.

 With ‘Fashion Makes Sense’ FASHIONCLASH wants to excite young designers, the fashion industry and the audience and create awareness about sustainability in fashion. Fashion is of upmost importance in the economy, society, art, and creativity and for each of us. But, it has a downside: the impact on the environment, the exploitation on workers and the influence on our self-esteem. What is the importance of fashion in our society and how can fashion contribute to a better world and welfare.

FASHIONCLASH has the ambition to develop ‘Fashion Makes Sense to a returning part of the yearly FASHIONCLASH Festival and it is their aim to create awareness around this topic. With an annual prize, FASHIONCLASH introduced the ‘Fashion Makes Sense’ jury award and the ‘Fashion Makes Sense audience award. A prize for a promising fashion talent, that’ll have a relevant and innovative idea on the awareness and innovation around sustainability.